Sarah Weiskopf

Sarah received her M.S. in wildlife ecology from the University of Delaware in 2016 and a B.S. in wildlife conservation and a B.A. in biology from the University of Delaware in 2014. Her previous research has included quantifying snow leopard dietary habits in the Central Asian steppe and using camera trapping and a novel method -- DNA extraction from terrestrial leech blood meals -- to study biodiversity and habitat fragmentation in Asian tropical rainforests. Sarah joined the USGS in 2016 as a Presidential Management Fellow, where she has served as a chapter lead on the Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Ecosystems Services chapter of the Fourth National Climate Assessment and as a U.S. Delegate to the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. During her fellowship, she also spent several months working on international biodiversity issues at the Department of State Office of Conservation and Water.

Publications:

Bista, M., Panthi, S., Weiskopf, S.R. 2018. Habitat overlap between Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanusand red panda Ailurus fulgens in Himalaya. PLOS ONE. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0203697

Weiskopf, S.R., McCarthy, K. P., Tessler, M., Rahman, H., McCarthy, J.L., Faisal, M.M., Siddall, M.E.  2018. Using terrestrial haematophagous leeches to enhance tropical biodiversity monitoring programs in Bangladesh. Journal of Applied Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13111 (Featured in the New York Times)

Tessler, M., Weiskopf, S.R., Berniker, L., Hersch, R., McCarthy, K.P., Yu, D. W., Siddall, M.E. 2018. Bloodlines: mammals, leeches, and conservation in southern Asia. Systematics and Biodiversity. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772000.2018.1433729

Weiskopf, S.R., Kachel, S.M., McCarthy, K.P. 2016.What are snow leopards really eating? Identifying bias in food habit studies. The Wildlife Society Bulletin. 40: 233-240. https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.640